Ventures Platform Invests in Multi-Merchant Rewards Firm, Thank U Cash

Leading Nigerian early-stage funding firm, Ventures Platform, has announced its investment into Fintech startup, ‘Thank U Cash’. The announcement was made in a post by Ventures Platform founding partner, Kola Aina, although he didn’t disclose the nature or value of the investment.

I just published “Investing in Thank U Cash” https://t.co/iDo57xddxH

— Kola Aina (@kola_aina) October 11, 2018

Speaking about the partnership, Mr Aina lauded the achievements of Thank U Cash founders and expressed his company’s excitement with the partnership.

“Madonna, Simeon, and Suraj bring a combined 60 years of experience in technology, product, and marketing. They are repeat entrepreneurs, and have worked together on two projects prior to Thank U Cash. We are proud to partner with them as they help small businesses across the continent become more productive,” he said.

About ‘Thank U Cash’

‘Thank U Cash’ is a multi-merchant rewards platform founded in 2017 by Madonna, Simeon Ononobi and Suraj Supekar. It allows merchants offer loyalty rewards to their customers when they pay for their purchases using any method (physical cash, POS, online). Customers can get back up to 50% cash and could spend that money at any business in the ‘Thank U Cash’ network. This not only increases customer spending but encourages them to buy more from merchants to get their rewards.

This is the startup’s second funding since its creation, having secured funding from early-stage investment platform Microtraction in August

Operating at over 30 merchant locations with over 9,000 online merchants, ‘Thank U Cash’ offers more than just rewards. It also provides an analytics platform that allows merchants to better understand their sales and run their businesses more efficiently. The platform has also been able to provide merchants with POS machines as well as online gateways to accept payments.

Thank U Cash is also one of the Nigerian startups participating in the 2nd cohort of the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa Program. This is why Ventures Platform is happy to invest in a startup that is powering this opportunity for MSMEs who do not have the resources or the expertise to build out robust loyalty programs or data analytics on their own.

“Investing in Thank U Cash” @kola_aina https://t.co/VLuUrPDjMI

Congrats to @ThankUCash, our latest portfolio company!

— Ventures Platform Fund (@vp_fund) October 11, 2018

Partnerships like this are not entirely new for the Ventures Platform which has invested a lot in a host of Nigerian startups. Startups that have previously benefited from the funding firm include: Kangpe, Kudi.ai, Mobile Forms, PayConnect, Paystack, Proteach, Wesabi, Accounteer, Gerocare, ThriveAgric, Printivo Wifi.com.ng, and the most recent being, MDaaS.